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Our Rotary Foundation

By Rotarian David C. Forward – member of Rotary E-Club One

For my first few years as a Rotarian, I don’t think I was so much a Rotarian as a member of a Rotary club. I would sit there and endure the club president, RF chairman, or DG drone on about giving money to become a Paul Harris Fellow but there was never an emotional connection. I plunked down $1,000 to become a PHF more out of a sense of association (with my friends who also did so) than a real commitment. I have since met hundreds of Rotarians who gave $1,000 many years ago...and who think they've done their part for the Foundation.

There are two points here. The first is that this is not THE Rotary Foundation; it is OUR Rotary Foundation. Whatever good I created with that first contribution 27 years ago has already been realized. But hunger, suffering, peacemaking, scholarships, clean water wells and so on are needed TODAY! We would not be considered good church members if we claimed the excuse "I put money in the envelope several years ago." We would not be serving our community well if we told the Red Cross blood bank, "I gave blood in 1999. Don't expect me to donate again!"  Each one of us continues to be blessed with gifts far in excess of what we actually need to survive. I cannot change the world by myself, but I can help change the world by being an ongoing generous giver to our Rotary Foundation.

The second point is that human beings are far more responsive to emotions than to facts. I remember feeling my heart pulled by the early revelation of our PolioPlus Campaign. When I was district chairman, I told the International Chairman, Walter Maddocks, of my ambitious goal to raise over one million dollars within our New Jersey district. To my surprise, he stopped me. "David," he cautioned. "Remember, PolioPlus is not about the money; it is about saving children's lives." I thought he was wrong, and we went ahead anyway and raised just over $1m from our district. Years later, I was on a business trip to a remote mountain town in northern Ethiopia, and by coincidence, there was a National Immunization Day being held. I was introduced to the doctor running the NID, and he handed me a baby at the front of this l-o-n-g line of waiting mothers and I got to place the life-saving drops of polio vaccine on the baby's tongue. In that moment, I realized that mother loved her baby every bit as much as I loved my son, and for a few dollars, I was able to provide enough vaccine to save every child in that line from the crippling effects of polio.

That was MY emotional connection to Our Rotary Foundation. To you it might be Peace Scholarships, or providing new limbs to land mine victims or building schools in a developing country...my point is, Our Rotary Foundation is like a cafeteria: you can pick from a long menu of wonderful offerings.

To me, The Rotary Foundation is not about PHF pins or diamond awards or names on major donor plaques. I am most assuredly not wealthy, but I have been richly blessed and it is my duty---and my joy---to be able to leave a little tiny legacy by relieving suffering somewhere in the world through the ongoing sharing of my gifts to Our Rotary Foundation. Walter Maddocks was so right. To paraphrase him today, (Giving to) The Rotary Foundation is not about money; it is about changing people's lives.

About the author: David C Forward is an prolific writer, speaker and active volunteer. He has been a Rotarian for 22 years, serving three times as club president, and was awarded the prestigious RI Citation for Meritorious Service. David is the author of the official history book of Rotary that was published in 2005 "A Century of Service - The Story of Rotary International". This 250-page illustrated book is available only from Rotary International and has been released in English, Japanese, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Korean. David is a member of Rotary E-Club One.